


Death of a Giant

by MagnaMnemosyne



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, Other, anyway yeah how many mages do you know that just explode when they die?, eh, more a post that I shanghaied, sorry i guess, there was a prompt a long time ago about mage deaths, well not really a prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 07:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8135233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagnaMnemosyne/pseuds/MagnaMnemosyne
Summary: Haalide dies. It's dramatic. Lots of magic.





	

Everyone thought, when Inquisitor Adaar eventually died, that there would at least be a body to take home. A ceremonial funeral, internment, a place at Andraste's side.

But then, people think a lot of things.

It happened after the final battle. Thedas saved again, a thousand slain on a rolling plain, under a sky so huge it seemed about to swallow everything beneath it. Battle-weary, but triumphant once again, Haalide leaned on her halberd and gave a rare smile to her apprentice as her remaining troops cheered, rallying around her one last time. Out of their notice, a survivor struggled up to support himself on his elbows, enchanted crossbow propped up on the body of his brother. And just as everyone believed the Inquisitor was invincible, the survivor pulled the trigger, and their hero fell.

She died upright, still clutching her halberd, grey knuckles now white as sparks danced around her fists. The blood that poured from her wound sizzled and evaporated before it ever reached the ground. The culprit was found and slaughtered, and Lura, the apprentice, screamed in rage and despair. As the remnants of the Inquisition watched, despairing, the sparks that danced around the Inquisitor's arms turned inward and consumed her. Electricity flashed through cracks that formed in her skin, even as her eyes turned white and her form shattered. Flames licked at the shards as they dissolved, flesh to ash and bone to dust, until all that remained of Haalide Adaar was a maelstrom of elemental power.

When the flames dissipated, not even dust remained of the Inquisitor herself, though two artifacts were recovered- her halberd, old and enchanted, embedded in the earth where she stood and imbued with storm and fire, and a runed ring, black and otherwise unassuming, which was claimed by the Inquisitor's apprentice.

News of the Inquisitor's death, and all of the strangeness entailed, traveled quickly. The faithful proclaimed that she had been claimed by the Maker as Andraste had been, that the maelstrom had been flame from Andraste's own pyre sent to claim the Herald and affirm her as holy. Her detractors were few, but loud, and they claimed that the storm proved that she was not the Herald, but a demon, or possessed by one. The conflicting beliefs lasted for many years, and Lura only gave a single answer. Fire and storm were familiar magics to Haalide, and they came too easily to be contained. When magic can no longer be contained, it needs an outlet.

 


End file.
